Referring to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a test and debug system capable of advantageously using the present invention is shown. The test and debug system includes a user interface 5, a test and debug unit 10, and a target processor 15. The user interface 5 includes the apparatus that permits a user to interact with, and control the testing of, the target processing unit 15. The user interface 5 can include display apparatus, input apparatus such as a keyboard, etc. for initiating test and debug procedures and for receiving the results of these procedures. The user interface 5 is coupled to the test and debug unit 10 through interface unit 101. The interface unit 101 exchanges signals with the processing unit 102 of the test and debug unit 10. The processing unit 102 applies signals to and receives signals from the scan control unit 103. The scan control unit 103 includes a local processor 1031, and memory unit out 1032 for exchanging signals with the local processor 1031, a memory unit in 1035 for storing signals from the target processing unit 15, a shift register out 1034 and a shift register in 1033, the shift registers 1033 and 1034 transferring data in and out of the test and debug unit 10 under control of the local processor 1031. For purposes of the present invention, the processing unit 102 provides commands to the scan control unit 103 and supplies the contents of the memory unit 1032. The target processing unit 15 includes a test access port 151, a shift register 152, an instruction register 153, a data register 154, a mini-status register 155, and a data register 156. The test access port 151 is a state machine responsive to test mode select (TMS) signals from the processing unit 102 for controlling the JTAG apparatus in the target processing unit 15. The shift register 152 receives signals from the shift register out 1034 and transfers signals to the shift register in 1033. The shift register 152 applies signals to the instruction register 153 and with the data register 154 and receives signals from the mini-status register 155 and the data register 156.
Referring to FIG. 2, a portion of the contents of the memory unit out 1032, according to the prior art, is illustrated. In particular, the memory unit out 1032 includes a command parameter section 1032A. Examples of the parameters included in the command parameter section are parameters defining a JTAG scan length and parameters defining JTAG end states. A command from the processing unit 102 will include reference to these parameters and these parameters will be accessed and appropriate control signals applied to the test access port 151 by the local processor.
Referring to FIG. 3, the execution of a command is illustrated. When command A is issued, the command active signal is activated. The command active signal allows the go to shift state function, the send/receive function, and the go to end state to be executed by the scan control unit 103. When the command active signal is no longer active, then a next command B can be executed. If a command C is issued while the target processor is still executing command A, command C will fail and be must retried.
In the past, configurations employing a JTAG emulation unit to test and debug a digital signal processor have had to issue a transaction, such as a read memory command, and then issue additional commands to retrieve the data or to determine if the original transaction was successful. The delay between the commands was usually sufficient to allow the target system the opportunity to complete the transaction. Transactions are usually initiated when the JTAG state (machine) transitions through “Update IR” to “Idle” or Pause. (The state diagram for the JTAG test and debug procedure is shown in FIG. 4. The four stable, non-shift JTAG states are indicated in this Figure as states 41, 42, 43 and 44.) New transactions are initiated by entering the “Scan” state. When the target system does not respond in a timely manner, the transaction will fail, and the test and debug unit 10 must retry the transaction. The transaction retries impact the performance of the test and debug configuration and, in the situation involving large data transfers with many retries, can result in a significant degradation of the configuration performance.
In a high performance scan control unit which allows commands to be executed back to back or automatically repeated for block operations, the amount of time the target system has to respond to a request for data is typically about 4 or 5 test clocks. In a high performance scan controller running at 40 MHz, this provides only 100 to 125 ns for the transaction to succeed. If the target processor is busy 15 or the response can not be provided in the allowed amount of time, the command will fail and must be retried.
A need has been felt for apparatus and an associated method having the feature of being able to prevent a command failure as the result of insufficient time to execute a command. It would be yet another feature of the apparatus and associated method for provide a sufficient delay in a command to permit execution of the command prior to the execution of a next command. It would be a still further feature to provide a delay prior to the execution of a next command that is function of the command being executed. It would be yet another further feature of the apparatus and associated method to permit the delay before the execution of the next instruction to be programmed. It would be a more particular object of the present invention that a delay before the execution of a next instruction be accessed as a parameter of the command.